Body Armor

Body Armor was one of those Executioners I'd been dying to read for some time but could never find. Of course I found every other book in the 220s but not this one until recently, and it was definitely worth the hype I'd generated for myself. It's rare to see Bolan go up against an opponent that can match him in skill or even just but up a decent fight. A lot of books like to hype up their bad guys as vicious threats, but when it comes to an actual encounter against Bolan they suddenly can't tell their firearm from their dick. With the Juggernauts, Fieldhouse created a very menacing and intriguing group of evil stormtroopers whose armor makes them nigh-invulnerable and gave them ammunition that can turn your head to mush. Most of Bolan's encounters with them end with him just barely escaping, and it's not until the last 60 pages or so he actually kills one for the first time. By sheer luck. Unfortunately, the book is rather short despite its page count (220), with slightly larger-than-average text and margins. As a result we get a fast-paced story but only provides the most bare bones of motivations and character traits for the bad guys. They're all former military and intelligence agency types, and that's about all we get. Bafflingly, Raymond Stylles, the main villain, gets the least characterization despite the novel spending more time in his head than either of his cohorts. And we don't get much about them either. Surprisingly, despite this being a Fieldhouse novel, the hand-to-hand stuff is contained to a couple brief skirmishes and the fistfight against Stylles at the end. Of course, a punch from one of their studded gloves, described by Kissinger as a "steel war club" is probably enough to blast your jaw apart. Aside from the bad guys' lack of characterization, there is one major missed opportunity: Bolan never uses their own armor against them. Having Bolan go up against them dressed in their own battle armor would have made the finale much more interesting. A recommended read.

Fieldhouse can come up with some innovated ideas in some of his books, and here is an example of this, the title Body Armor says it all. Mack has a new challenge he has not faced before, I liked this aspect of the story as much as the armored villains, calling themselves Juggernauts, with their upgraded guns and ammo. The villain’s plot is a little far fetched, and like another reviewer mentioned, I found it too convenient that Stony Man would conclude exactly who and when the Juggernaut strike on the Miami guy was happening. I liked how Kissinger was put to the test to see if he could come up with an answer to these armored badguys. Bolan’s mission had an element of danger most books don’t have, in that he was more vulnerable not only to the heavier firepower of the ammo the Juggernauts were using, but that his normal trusty side-arms were useless against these villains. Although the action was fairly standard in this book, I thought the author did a good job with Bolan’s ability to take out these criminals, and the help of Stony Man was a must, with Kissinger’s work and the farm’s intel network providing Bolan with what he needed. While the villain’s plot was crazy, I did enjoy the scene with the President talking to the Juggernaut leader, one of my favorite moments between the action. Overall, a solid book with some fresh ideas, I recommend it.

William Fieldhouse’s wildly experimental novel about a gang of fascists who develop state-of-the-art body armor and call themselves the Juggernauts receives credit for imagination. Fieldhouse, who pretty much is responsible for shaping Phoenix Force in over thirty stories, contributed to a few Executioner titles before his retirement. Of all of his post-Phoenix Force novels, “Body Armor” would be his most passionate effort. He strays away from his usual antagonists, terrorists and ninjas. He creates a threat to Bolan that catches even the veteran soldier by surprise. He changes tactics repeatedly, creatively grasping at straws with determination. However, the prose is a little tough to go through and the obligatory hand-to-hand sequences are one too many. And the villain was too narcissistic to be considered a credible threat.

Firstly this is probably close to the worst plot I have come across in the series of books being almost laughable and yet the book is a good read. Mack takes on a gang of body armoured (you people up there spell wrong ;-) people who can't be taken down with normal means and then the detective hunt starts. I really enjoyed the inclusion of so many characters from the original series being included in this book. Kissinger plays a big part in this book and his attempts to manufacture ammunition to pierce the armour is interesting to read. The taking of Bolan via the electric floor and his subsequent escape is slightly bewildering but it finishes very nicely. Its a good read and recommended reading.

This book is overrated and I can´t really understand why other readers have been hyping this book. After reading all those reviews before, I really had high expectations when I started to read it but needless to say I never got in to it all though the idea of constructing and using a body armor was a fresh one. I wonder how the drug lord in the end was supposed to be an ideal one to strike at for the Juggernauts according to Stony Man intel? With the size of country there must have been many criminals who would have fitted the profile of a lucrative target for the Juggernauts so why were Bolan and company so secure that this one would be the right one to monitor?? Is it just me or didn´t other readers find this strange? The fresh concept of the Juggernauts was a new direction and actually made it a very interesting one and what was just about it for this book. From my point everything helped out to make it much less than I thought it would be, issues like plot, characters, background story, reasons for the grand plan and so on The Juggernauts proved to be a great and different adversary for Bolan but I kind have the feeling the book could have been much better with more inside into the Juggernauts, their personality and reasons for some of the characters to join the rouge group. It was great to see Bolan struggle against an enemy which is very rare. The book was a huge disappointment but then again I am used to it sometimes from some of these books (Iceland - 2005)

This could be the best one yet that I have read. It rocked from start to finish. I loved the whole concept of the Juggernauts! Every Bolan fan should read this. You'd be crazy to call it less than awesome.

Excellent read. I was really impressed with the whole rogue cop/soldier angle,made for an interesting twist to the plot.Also a welcome change of pace in that Mack had to work a lot harder to take down the Juggernauts.

I was prepared not to like this because it sounded a little too far-fetched for this series, but Fieldhouse pulled it off with great style and finesse. The Juggernauts prove a great adversary for Bolan and it was nice seeing Mack frustrated and forced to crank it up a notch to bring the bad guys down.

This one rocked from beginning to end. Great story premise! A must read for any true Bolan fan. Bolan was truly at his best here.

was very good......liked the fact that he had to use something other thn the M4 for a change and liked seeing cowboy make new ammo

I give this one points for trying to break from formula, but the Juggernauts kinda wound up seeming like a bunch of Terminators and I kept waiting for a better look inside the heads of some of the characters, but except for a few decent insights into Bolan, this was mostly plot plot plot. Still, the author did a good job within these paramiters. A good book to read if you're looking for a change of pace for the usual books in this series.

This book was the best. I was blown away at the fact that Mack Bolan had a hard time taking the Juggernauts down.

Great Book !!!!!!!!!

Moderate read. It was enjoyable but it didn't go too much on character

this was a awsome book. a step away from the usual maltia stuff. i liked the story line and the action. This was a cool challenge for bolan.

Nice change of venue for a Mack Bolan book. I liked the detective type angle rather than the big body count usually associated with the books.

This was the first Executioner book that I have read and I found it very enjoyable. I really liked the fact that theJuggernauts were almost immortal and would go from place to place just simply killing criminals.

This one was excellent, and I became a big Fieldhouse fan afterwards.

Wonderful entry by Fieldhouse. This was the 3rd Bolan book that I read, and I have been a Fieldhouse fan since. I really enjoyed this one, and looked forward to every other book he's written. On a scale of 1-10, i give it a 9.5